1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector that is used for connecting a hose to a male member, such as a pipe. More particularly, it relates to a connector that makes it possible to confirm how it is connected to a male member.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connector that connects a hose to a male member, such as a pipe, can preferably have a checking member for confirming how the hose is connected to the male member. As the connector that has such a checking member, connectors that are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 11-344,182 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2003-343,782 have been known. As illustrated in FIGS. 29 and 30, such a conventional connector comprises a female-member body 82, a locking member 83, and a checking member 84. The female-member 82 has a substantially cylinder-shaped housing 81 that is provided with an insertion opening end 81a. A pipe-shaped male member 80 is inserted into the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 through the insertion opening end 81a. The male-member 80 has a ring-shaped protrusion 80a that protrudes centrifugally from a predetermined position, which is disposed away from the leading end by a predetermined distance. The locking member 83 is inserted into and then retained to one of the opposite ends of the housing 81 on the side of the insertion opening end 81a. That is, the locking member 83 is a member for coupling or connecting the male member 80, which is inserted into the housing 81, to the male-member body 82. The checking member 84 is assembled outward from the axially perpendicular direction and is then retained onto an outer peripheral surface of the housing 81. That is, the checking member 84 is a member for checking whether the male member 80 is coupled to the female-member body 82 or not.
Moreover, the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 is provided with paired windows 81b on one of the opposite ends adjacent to the insertion opening end 81a. The windows 81b penetrate the housing 81 radially, and are put in place circumferentially so as to face each other. In addition, the locking member 83 has paired claws 83a. The claws 83a are capable of deforming elastically in the radial direction, and are put in place at positions, which correspond to the windows 81b, respectively.
Moreover, as illustrated in FIG. 30, the checking member 84 has a letter “C”-shaped portion 84a, and paired locker protrusions 84b, 84b. The letter “C”-shaped portion 84a is assembled outward from the axially perpendicular direction and is then retained onto an outer peripheral surface of the housing 81 of the female-member body 82, and is capable of expanding diametrically by elastic deformation. The locker protrusions 84b, 84b protrude inward from the opposite ends of the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a, and are then inserted into the housing 81 through the windows 81b, respectively. The locker protrusions 84, 84 are provided with a first locker 84c, a leading-end contact 84d, and an inclined second locker 84e, respectively. The first lockers 84c lock to the circumferentially opposite ends of the windows 81b to inhibit the checking member 84 from being pulled from out of the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 before the male member 80 is coupled to the female-member body 82. The leading-end contacts 84d, 84d are pressed by the ring-shaped protrusion 80a of the male member 80 and are then moved outward radially to expand the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a when the male member 80 is inserted into the female-member body 82 completely. The inclined second lockers 84e, 84e lock to the circumferentially opposite rims of the windows 81b, 81b to inhibit the checking member 84 from being pulled from out of the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 by elastic restoring force that the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a exerts on the checking member 84 when the male member 80 is inserted into the female-member body 82 completely.
In the conventional connector, the checking member 84 is assembled outward with and then retained onto an outer peripheral surface of the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 before the male member 80 is coupled to the female-member body 82. Moreover, the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a of the checking member 84 is locked to the circumferentially opposite rims of the windows 81b, 81b in the housing 81 at the first lockers 84c, 84c of the locker protrusions 84b, 84b. In addition, the locker protrusions 84b, 84b of the checking member 84 are inserted up to a more axially inner-side position than the claws 83a of the locking member 83 are present within the windows 81b. When the male member 80 is inserted into the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 under the circumstances, the ring-shaped protrusion 80a of the male member 80 expands the claws 83a, 83a of the locking member 83 outward radially against their elasticity, and then goes past the claws 83, 83. Eventually, the leading ends of the claws 83a, 83a lock to the ring-shaped protrusion 80a. Thus, the male member 80 is coupled to the female-member body 82.
In the above-described coupled state (namely, in the state illustrated in FIGS. 29 and 30), the opposite leading-end contacts 84d, 84d of the checking member 84 are expanded outward radially by the ring-shaped protrusion 80a of the male member 80, and thereby the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a is expanded diametrically. Eventually, the opposite inclined second lockers 84e, 84e of the respective locker protrusions 84b, 84b come in contact with and then lock to the circumferentially opposite rims of the respective windows 81b, 81b in the housing 81 of the female-member body 82, respectively. Thus, the inclined second lockers 84e, 84e of the locker protrusions 84b, 84b, which lock to the circumferentially opposite rims of the windows 81b, 81b, make it possible to inhibit the checking member 84 from being come off from the housing 81 by elastic restoring force that the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a exerts on the checking member 84.
Then, when an assembly-line worker or robot tries to pull out and then remove the checking member 84 from the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 that is coupled to the male member 80, the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a of the checking member 84 is expanded diametrically furthermore because the opposite inclined second lockers 84e, 84e of the respective locker protrusions 84b, 84b contact slidingly with the circumferentially opposite rims of the respective windows 81b, 81b. Accordingly, the assembly-line worker or robot can pull out and then remove the checking member 84 from the housing 31 with ease. Thus, the assembly-line worker or robot can confirm the coupling between the male member 80 and the female-member body 82. Note that it is often the case that the coupling between the male member 80 and the female-member body 81 is incomplete when the checking member 84 does not come off from the housing 81 even if the assembly-line worker or robot pulls the checking member 84. Consequently, the assembly-line worker or robot carries out the coupling operation again in order to insert the insertion end of the male member 80 into the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 fully.
Moreover, International Publication No. 2007/066675, and International Publication No. 1994/027077 disclose other conventional connectors. Such a conventional connector comprises a construction in which a male member presses a checking member to deform it elastically in the axial direction. In addition, in order that the checking member does not fall down from a housing in the axial direction when the male member presses the checking member, a protrusion, which is formed on the checking member, is inserted into a dent, which is formed in the housing.
Now, back to the conventional connector illustrated in FIGS. 29 and 30, the insertion end of the male member 80 might be inserted into the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 in such a manner that the insertion end is inclined in an oblique direction with respect to an imaginary axial line of the housing 81 when it is inserted into the housing 81. In the conventional connector, namely, in the connector comprising the construction in which the checking member 84 has the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a, if the insertion end of the male member 80 is inserted in such a manner that it is inclined toward one of the opposite locker protrusions 84b, 84b, for instance, then the insertion end of the male member 80 comes in contact with the one of the opposite locker protrusions 84b, 84b to expand the one of the opposite locker protrusions 84b, 84b diametrically under such a circumstance. The one of the opposite locker protrusions 84b, 84b, which has been thus expanded diametrically once, locks to the circumferentially opposite rims of one of the windows 81b, 81b in the housing 81. If such is the case, however, the opposite leading-end contacts 84d, 84d of the checking member 84 do not return to their original positions even when they are released from the contact with the insertion end of the male member 80, because the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a does not exert enough elastic restoring force on them.
In the situations like above, only the leading-end contact 84d of the one of the locker protrusions 84b, 84b has been pressed to expand outward radially, even though it does not come in contact with the ring-shaped protrusion 80a of the male member 80. Accordingly, only the inclined second locker 84e of the one of the locker protrusions 84b, 84b is put in such a state that it comes in contact with and is then locked to the circumferentially opposite rims of one of the windows 81b, 81b in the housing 81. When an assembly-line worker or robot pulls the checker 84 strongly under the circumstances, it might be possible to think of such a situation that the checking member 84 has been come off from the housing 81 of the female-member body 82, because the inclined second locker 84c of the one of the locker protrusions 84b, 84b might be released from the locked state to the circumferentially opposite rims of one of the windows 81b, 81b in the housing 81. If the checking member 84 has thus come off from the housing 81 even though the coupling between the male member 80 and the female-member body 82 is incomplete (or improper), it cannot fulfill the function of checking member per se.
Note that Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2003-343,782 discloses to provide an outer peripheral surface of the housing 81 of the female-member body 82 with two protruded streaks having an identical shape to each other. The protruded streaks are formed so as to extend parallelly to each other in the circumferential direction. Moreover, the gazette discloses to provide a central flat section of the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a of the checking member 84 with a circumferential-shift inhibitor protrusion. The circumferential-shift inhibitor protrusion is disposed adjacent to one of the lengthwise ends of the central flat section of the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a, and protrudes toward one of the axially opposite ends. In addition, the gazette discloses to provide the central flat section of the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a of the checking member 84 with another circumferential-shift inhibitor protrusion. The another circumferential-shift inhibitor protrusion is disposed adjacent to the other one of the lengthwise ends of the central flat section of the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a, and protrudes toward the other one of the axially opposite ends. If such is the case, the circumferential-shift inhibitor protrusions are pressed onto the steaks on one of the axially opposite sides of the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a alone when external force acts on the checking member 84 in the circumferential direction. Accordingly, the resulting rotary forces, which act on the letter “C”-shaped portion 84a about the circumferential-shift inhibitors, incline in the axial direction. Consequently, it is possible to prevent the locker protrusions 84b, 84b of the checking member 84 from moving in the axially perpendicular direction and then readily coming off from the circumferentially opposite rims of the windows 81b, 81b in the housing 81 of the female-member body 82. Thus, when the male member 80 is coupled to the female-member body 82 incompletely (or improperly), it is possible to avoid such an adverse situation that the checking member 84 comes off from the housing 81 readily even if an assembly-line worker or robot should pull the checking member 84 strongly.
However, employing the above-described engineering technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2003-343,782 results in enlarging the housing 81 of the female-member body 82, because an outer peripheral surface of the housing 81 is provided with the two protruded streaks so that the outside-diameter dimension of the housing 81 has become larger by the protruded streaks. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the engineering technique disclosed in the gazette to the following cases: a cover is attached around the outer periphery of the housing 81 after coupling the conventional connector to the male member 80 and then pulling the checking member 84 from out of the housing 81 to remove it; and the size of the housing cannot be changed in connection with piping layout.
Note that, in the conventional connectors that are disclosed in International Publication No. 2007/066675 and International Publication No. 1994/027077, the male member presses the checking member axially, thereby making the checking member removable. Therefore, the above-described problem does not occur in the conventional connectors with such a construction. That is, the aforementioned problem is an inherent problem with the checking member that has the letter “C”-shaped portion.